element14 Community
element14 Community
    Register Log In
  • Site
  • Search
  • Log In Register
  • Community Hub
    Community Hub
    • What's New on element14
    • Feedback and Support
    • Benefits of Membership
    • Personal Blogs
    • Members Area
    • Achievement Levels
  • Learn
    Learn
    • Ask an Expert
    • eBooks
    • element14 presents
    • Learning Center
    • Tech Spotlight
    • STEM Academy
    • Webinars, Training and Events
    • Learning Groups
  • Technologies
    Technologies
    • 3D Printing
    • FPGA
    • Industrial Automation
    • Internet of Things
    • Power & Energy
    • Sensors
    • Technology Groups
  • Challenges & Projects
    Challenges & Projects
    • Design Challenges
    • element14 presents Projects
    • Project14
    • Arduino Projects
    • Raspberry Pi Projects
    • Project Groups
  • Products
    Products
    • Arduino
    • Avnet & Tria Boards Community
    • Dev Tools
    • Manufacturers
    • Multicomp Pro
    • Product Groups
    • Raspberry Pi
    • RoadTests & Reviews
  • About Us
    About the element14 Community
  • Store
    Store
    • Visit Your Store
    • Choose another store...
      • Europe
      •  Austria (German)
      •  Belgium (Dutch, French)
      •  Bulgaria (Bulgarian)
      •  Czech Republic (Czech)
      •  Denmark (Danish)
      •  Estonia (Estonian)
      •  Finland (Finnish)
      •  France (French)
      •  Germany (German)
      •  Hungary (Hungarian)
      •  Ireland
      •  Israel
      •  Italy (Italian)
      •  Latvia (Latvian)
      •  
      •  Lithuania (Lithuanian)
      •  Netherlands (Dutch)
      •  Norway (Norwegian)
      •  Poland (Polish)
      •  Portugal (Portuguese)
      •  Romania (Romanian)
      •  Russia (Russian)
      •  Slovakia (Slovak)
      •  Slovenia (Slovenian)
      •  Spain (Spanish)
      •  Sweden (Swedish)
      •  Switzerland(German, French)
      •  Turkey (Turkish)
      •  United Kingdom
      • Asia Pacific
      •  Australia
      •  China
      •  Hong Kong
      •  India
      •  Japan
      •  Korea (Korean)
      •  Malaysia
      •  New Zealand
      •  Philippines
      •  Singapore
      •  Taiwan
      •  Thailand (Thai)
      •  Vietnam
      • Americas
      •  Brazil (Portuguese)
      •  Canada
      •  Mexico (Spanish)
      •  United States
      Can't find the country/region you're looking for? Visit our export site or find a local distributor.
  • Translate
  • Profile
  • Settings
BeagleBoard
  • Products
  • Dev Tools
  • Single-Board Computers
  • BeagleBoard
  • More
  • Cancel
BeagleBoard
Blog BeagleBone PRU - Timer Functionality
  • Blog
  • Forum
  • Documents
  • Quiz
  • Polls
  • Files
  • Members
  • Mentions
  • Sub-Groups
  • Tags
  • More
  • Cancel
  • New
Join BeagleBoard to participate - click to join for free!
  • Share
  • More
  • Cancel
Group Actions
  • Group RSS
  • More
  • Cancel
Engagement
  • Author Author: Jan Cumps
  • Date Created: 12 Aug 2019 6:23 PM Date Created
  • Views 9067 views
  • Likes 9 likes
  • Comments 26 comments
  • timer
  • pru
  • BeagleBone
Related
Recommended

BeagleBone PRU - Timer Functionality

Jan Cumps
Jan Cumps
12 Aug 2019

The PRU modules of the BeagleBone's Sitara controller have a timer.

In this short post, I'm trying if I can get it to work.

 

image

 

The future plan is to use it in an algorithm for stepper motor control.

I'd like to make a smart algorithm that recalculates acceleration/deceleration of the stepper motor while that motor is running.

 

 

PRU Timer

 

It's a component of the unit's Industrial Ethernet Peripheral but can be repurposed as a generic timer within the real time unit.

I took the example timer project from TI that sets the timer for 10 seconds, waits for it to expire and then exits.

I added two line of code: set an output low when the PRU starts, then toggle it after 10 seconds. That lets me validate the timer without a debugger.

 

The output I chose is P9_29. The only reason I chose that one is because I have a PRU cape with a LED on that pin.

This cape is not required. You could just put a +-1K resistor with a LED in series between that pin and GND. Or a scope probe or voltmeter.

 

You don't have permission to edit metadata of this video.
Edit media
x
image
Upload Preview
image

 

Code

 

The main part of the code is setting all registers and initialising the timer. The original TI code with license can be found here.

 

volatile register uint32_t __R30;
volatile register uint32_t __R31;

void main(void)
{
  /* Clear SYSCFG[STANDBY_INIT] to enable OCP master port */
  CT_CFG.SYSCFG_bit.STANDBY_INIT = 0;

  /* Disable counter */
  CT_IEP.TMR_GLB_CFG_bit.CNT_EN = 0;

  /* Reset Count register */
  CT_IEP.TMR_CNT = 0x0;

  /* Clear overflow status register */
  CT_IEP.TMR_GLB_STS_bit.CNT_OVF = 0x1;

  /* Set compare value */
  CT_IEP.TMR_CMP0 = 0x77359400; // 10 seconds @ 200MHz

  /* Clear compare status */
  CT_IEP.TMR_CMP_STS_bit.CMP_HIT = 0xFF;

  /* Disable compensation */
  CT_IEP.TMR_COMPEN_bit.COMPEN_CNT = 0x0;

  /* Enable CMP0 and reset on event */
  CT_IEP.TMR_CMP_CFG_bit.CMP0_RST_CNT_EN = 0x1;
  CT_IEP.TMR_CMP_CFG_bit.CMP_EN = 0x1;

  /* Clear the status of all interrupts */
  CT_INTC.SECR0 = 0xFFFFFFFF;
  CT_INTC.SECR1 = 0xFFFFFFFF;

 

 

Then I set the GPIO pin (all pins, this is just a tryout), wait for the timer to expire and toggle the GPIO pin.

 

#define PIN    1

// set all GPIOs low
    __R30 = 0x0;

  /* Enable counter */
  CT_IEP.TMR_GLB_CFG = 0x11;

  /* Poll until R31.31 is set */
  do {
    while ((__R31 & 0x80000000) == 0) {
    }
    /* Verify that the IEP is the source of the interrupt */
  } while ((CT_INTC.SECR0 & (1 << 7)) == 0);

  //toggle
   __R30 ^= 1UL << PIN;

 

After that, the program clears up and stops. It's not a blinky, just an output that switches high after 10 seconds. Sorry.

 

  /* Disable counter */
  CT_IEP.TMR_GLB_CFG_bit.CNT_EN = 0x0;

  /* Disable Compare0 */
  CT_IEP.TMR_CMP_CFG = 0x0;

  /* Clear Compare status */
  CT_IEP.TMR_CMP_STS = 0xFF;

  /* Clear the status of the interrupt */
  CT_INTC.SECR0 = (1 << 7);

  /* Halt the PRU core */
  __halt();
}

 

Run It

 

I've reused the TI project PRU_IEP and just added my lines to the source. See this blog for getting started with PRU code compilation in CCS.

Once the code is compiled, move it over to the BB's Linux file system (I'm assuming you moved it to /home/debian/bin).

Then execute these commands to prepare the PRU:

 

# set pin 29 as PRU GPIO out
config-pin P9_29 pruout

#load the firmware to PRU
cp /home/debian/bin/PRU_IEP.out /lib/firmware/PRU_IEP.out
echo 'PRU_IEP.out' > /sys/class/remoteproc/remoteproc1/firmware

#start the program
echo 'start' > /sys/class/remoteproc/remoteproc1/state

 

 

image

image: capture of the timer controlled pin with an ocilloscope

 

If you want to retry, stop the PRU and start it again:

 

echo 'stop' > /sys/class/remoteproc/remoteproc1/state
echo 'start' > /sys/class/remoteproc/remoteproc1/state

 

When finished, set the BB back to default.

 

echo 'stop' > /sys/class/remoteproc/remoteproc1/state
config-pin P9_29 default

.

Attachments:
bb_PRU_TIMER.zip
  • Sign in to reply

Top Comments

  • Jan Cumps
    Jan Cumps over 6 years ago +3
    @self-documentation on the part where the timer timeout is detected: This part: /* Poll until R31.31 is set */ do { while ((__R31 & 0x80000000 ) == 0 ) { } The __R31 bit 31 is local interrupt 1: and "…
  • shabaz
    shabaz over 6 years ago +2
    Hi Jan, This is very useful information! It's new to me that the PRU could access a 32-bit timer clocked at 200MHz. That's fantastic.
  • grondak
    grondak over 6 years ago +2
    I last was interested in these PRUs over 5 years ago. They are just as you said: the key to unlock determinism in a Linux system. My application needed to start the timer, then later read the timer value…
  • clem57
    clem57 over 6 years ago in reply to Jan Cumps

    Jan Cumps  wrote:

     

    You are right. But I haven't managed to do this (changing that one interrupt but - in the case of the PRU you have to set the bit instead of clear it) without messing with the other part.

     

    I need quality time to review this.

     

    The example with the timer uses a different register and mechanism to clear the interrupt than the example that reads data from the Linux queue....

    Reverse logic in PRU. I must remember that one.image

    Thanks.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +1 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • Jan Cumps
    Jan Cumps over 6 years ago in reply to clem57

    You are right. But I haven't managed to do this (changing that one interrupt but - in the case of the PRU you have to set the bit instead of clear it) without messing with the other part.

     

    I need quality time to review this.

     

    The example with the timer uses a different register and mechanism to clear the interrupt than the example that reads data from the Linux queue....

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • clem57
    clem57 over 6 years ago in reply to Jan Cumps

    For the interrupts, I think the results have to be cleared or reset before using them again. But I could be wrong.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • Jan Cumps
    Jan Cumps over 6 years ago

    I'm at a difficult point at this moment: I can get the program to recognise a clock compare and a command from linux

    I have difficulties getting a program to work combining both.

    It must be the way I deal with the interrupt registers after it fires (most likely the timer interrupt).

     

    My current recourse is to check if I can learn from the examples. My current solution is a combination of 2 of those examples but there may be some other leads.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +1 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • clem57
    clem57 over 6 years ago in reply to grondak

    Good find grondak, I will bookmark for later.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
<>
element14 Community

element14 is the first online community specifically for engineers. Connect with your peers and get expert answers to your questions.

  • Members
  • Learn
  • Technologies
  • Challenges & Projects
  • Products
  • Store
  • About Us
  • Feedback & Support
  • FAQs
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Legal and Copyright Notices
  • Sitemap
  • Cookies

An Avnet Company © 2026 Premier Farnell Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Premier Farnell Ltd, registered in England and Wales (no 00876412), registered office: Farnell House, Forge Lane, Leeds LS12 2NE.

ICP 备案号 10220084.

Follow element14

  • X
  • Facebook
  • linkedin
  • YouTube